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> On July 7 the Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness was signed by a group of recognized authorities (cognitive neuroscientists, neuropharmacologiests, neurop

by pdog 14y ago

> On July 7 the Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness was signed by a group of recognized authorities (cognitive neuroscientists, neuropharmacologiests, neurophysiologists, neuroanatomist and computational neuroscientists). This, to me, significantly cheapens the message. Imagine a group of recognized "authorities" in mathematics coming together to sign the proof of an important theorem in an attempt to further bolster its truth. It almost makes me doubt the truth (or importance) of this statement.

vacri 14y ago
It shouldn't. Mathematics is lucky in that it's an entirely logical field where things can be absolutely proven. Not even Physics has that advantage. Psychology is a discipline full of minefields and gotchas - experience is very important here.
- scarmig 14y ago
  "Mathematics is lucky in that it's an entirely logical field where things can be absolutely proven." A professional mathematician should confirm this, but my impression is that most of the interesting bits of math are fairly informal and creative--rigorous proofs only come long after the fact, if they come at all, and really just amount to dotting is and crossing ts that few people double check anyways. Absolutely proven is a bit stronger than is warranted, and at least some other fields can produce statements that have the level of "truth" that a mathematical statement has.
  - SoftwareMaven 14y ago
    The point is that the proofs are actually possible. Even physics requires "proof by statistics".
    - scarmig 14y ago
      My point, though, was that mathematics is also a field filled with minefields and gotchas where experience is very useful. Moreover, that mathematicians are more than glorified theorem provers.
  - Locke1689 14y ago
    It's true that mathematicians more often deal with proof sketches rather than base formal proofs, but that's just for brevity purposes. I don't think any professional mathematician would argue that their main goal isn't to produce proofs (or things that could be proved, i.e. hypotheses).
dudeanon842 14y ago
The need for consensus and authority probably stems from the need to settle on a definition of the word "consciousness". Determining whether or not animals meet the criteria was probably the easy part.

by pdog 14y ago

vacri 14y ago

It shouldn't. Mathematics is lucky in that it's an entirely logical field where things can be absolutely proven. Not even Physics has that advantage. Psychology is a discipline full of minefields and gotchas - experience is very important here.

scarmig 14y ago
"Mathematics is lucky in that it's an entirely logical field where things can be absolutely proven." A professional mathematician should confirm this, but my impression is that most of the interesting bits of math are fairly informal and creative--rigorous proofs only come long after the fact, if they come at all, and really just amount to dotting is and crossing ts that few people double check anyways. Absolutely proven is a bit stronger than is warranted, and at least some other fields can produce statements that have the level of "truth" that a mathematical statement has.
- SoftwareMaven 14y ago
  The point is that the proofs are actually possible. Even physics requires "proof by statistics".
  - scarmig 14y ago
    My point, though, was that mathematics is also a field filled with minefields and gotchas where experience is very useful. Moreover, that mathematicians are more than glorified theorem provers.
- Locke1689 14y ago
  It's true that mathematicians more often deal with proof sketches rather than base formal proofs, but that's just for brevity purposes. I don't think any professional mathematician would argue that their main goal isn't to produce proofs (or things that could be proved, i.e. hypotheses).

dudeanon842 14y ago

The need for consensus and authority probably stems from the need to settle on a definition of the word "consciousness". Determining whether or not animals meet the criteria was probably the easy part.